However, Mouret’s associate Bourdoncle warns ominously that

women ​ (a)   Mouret disregards this until

Denise, a chaste and dignified salesgirl, rejects his ​ (b)   . He pursues Denise as he would any other mistress

and is utterly bewildered when she refuses him, for no woman

has yet refused the powerful businessman. He offers her

​ (c)   , but although she

privately loves him, Denise refuses to be treated ​ (d)   . Distraught that he cannot buy the woman he loves,

Mouret starts to feel that his power—which ​ (e)   —is empty and useless.

As Mouret

feels increasingly impotent due to Denise’s rejection, Denise

becomes the most powerful person at the Ladies’ Paradise,

unwittingly exploiting Mouret’s deference toward her to ​ (a)   . These changes, importantly,

largely ​ (b)   Mouret previously wrote off,

such as those who fall pregnant (Denise sets up a paid leave

system for them). As a result, Mouret fears that Denise is “the

revenge” that will ​ (c)   However, after a wildly

successful sale at the Ladies’ Paradise, Mouret realizes that his

​ (d)   feels incomplete if he can’t have Denise.

This leads him to propose to Denise, essentially ​ (e)  

to her—while also giving Denise exactly what she wants

(marriage) and putting Denise in a powerful position where she

can continue to advocate for Mouret’s female employees.

The Ladies’ Paradise explores the rise of ​ (a)   .

Mouret’s big department store, the Ladies’

Paradise, brings together under one roof all the goods that

previously, one had to visit ​ (b)   . So,

instead of visiting a fabric seller, a glovemaker, and a perfume

shop separately, shoppers—who are overwhelmingly

female—can now find all those items (and countless others) in

one place. This business model, The Ladies’ Paradise shows,

​ (c)   by

​ (d)   and turning the shopping experience into an

​ (e)   , rather than the simple acquisition of supplies.

To create such an environment, Mouret arranges his wares in

colorful displays that draw shoppers in and highlight just how

much he has to offer. Additionally, he ​ (a)   in order to find

everything they came for—which leads to shoppers ​ (b)   and purchasing

more items than they intended to. Finally, Mouret makes

shopping an emotionally charged event by hosting ​ (c)   because they see their peers doing the same. He

also serves refreshments, offers free items like flowers and

letter paper, and even sells the store’s signature silk fabric at a

loss, all to make his customers feel like they—rather than

Mouret—are ​ (d)   Of course, this isn’t

actually the case: several regular customers spend so much

money in the Ladies’ Paradise that their husbands can barely

support their wives’ shopping habits, while Mouret ​ (e)   during the novel’s final sale.

The Ladies’

Paradise illustrates how changing the shopping experience from

a dull affair into one that’s emotional, exciting, and full of

surprises creates a ​ (a)   . Moreover, the contrast between Mouret’s

success and his customers’ financial strain suggests that this

type of ​ (b)   and doesn’t bring

consumers genuine happiness—it only really ​ (c)   .

In The Ladies’ Paradise, small shops battle for

survival against Mouret’s big department store, the

Ladies’ Paradise. The small shops represent ​ (a)   following traditional business methods in which they sell

a small, specialized range of products at a high price. In

contrast, the Ladies’ Paradise—which represents ​ (b)   —ignores traditional business models, instead sourcing

hundreds of different goods to sell at low prices and creating an

overwhelming and intoxicating atmosphere to draw the public.

The small tradespeople try to defend their​ (c)  

as when Bourras claims that his trade—selling hand-carved

umbrellas—is about true art. However, The Ladies Paradise

never fails to succeed, instead​ (d)   until the department store takes up an entire

city block.

During his lifetime, Zola made his presence felt in almost every area of the literary world. He was constantly involved in some type of literary controversy. In one sense, he is best known for his theories and defense of ​ (a)   , and he has aptly been called the father of naturalism. The naturalist thought that the ​ (b)   had not treated all aspects of life and was determined to show everything connected with life. The naturalist also accused the realist of failing to depict things which are unpleasant, ugly, or sordid. Consequently, the naturalist often concentrates to a greater extent on those aspects of life which are of dubious value, and seldom does it depict the higher nature of humanity.

In theory, the naturalist saw humanity ​ (c)   . Humanity is caught in a hostile universe and there is no chance for it to escape. When humanity realizes its trap or if it attempts to escape, it is usually reduced to the level of an animal. In general, the naturalistic philosophy might be called pessimistic determinism — that is, humans are totally unable to control their own destinies.

With this philosophy, the naturalist will often use the image of humanity trapped in some type of cage or in some type of circumstances which could be symbolically viewed as a net or cage. Then the dominant image will often involve a person as some sort of animal. The naturalist uses this animal imagery to reinforce the position that people cannot control their urges and are ultimately reduced to bestiality. The French Zola and the American Frank Norris are the most famous for their uses of animal imagery to depict the lack of nobility in humanity.

The naturalist, wishing to capture verisimilitude to the endth degree, would often belabor his descriptions. Many times, this type of writer would often continue his description of physical objects far beyond the patience of the reader. Their flaw then is a result of their desire to give an absolutely accurate account of their position, and in doing so, they often became tedious with their laborious descriptions.

Finally, in trying to be completely true to life, ​ (d)   . While determined to present the true side of life and therefore concentrating on the ugly and the sordid, the naturalist emphasized this aspect of life to the exclusion of any other aspect. The realist knows that there is the sordid side, but he often presented the pleasant or happy side of life; the naturalist restricted life to the ugly and unpleasant, thereby distorting real life instead of depicting it as accurately as he thought he would.

Romantic literature is marked by six primary characteristics: celebration of ​ (a)   , focus on ​ (b)   and spirituality, celebration of isolation and melancholy, interest in the ​ (c)   , idealization of ​ (d)   , and personification and ​ (e)   .

​ (a)   is the attribution of ​ (b)   to ​ (c)   , especially in ​ (d)   .

​ (a)   is the theory that human groups and races are subject to the same laws of natural selection as Charles Darwin perceived in plants and animals in nature. According to the theory, which was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the weak were ​ (b)   and their cultures delimited while the ​ (c)   . Social Darwinists held that the life of humans in society was a struggle for existence ruled by ​ (d)   a phrase proposed by the British philosopher and scientist ​ (e)   r.

Type questiRemember TEESS for Close Analysis. T stands for ​ (a)   ; The first E stands for Example (use lots of these); The second E stands for Explanation (​ (b)   to understand the text); The first S stands for ​ (c)   (the relationship between the extract/extracts/ and the text as a whole; The final S stands for ​ (d)   (how the reader or audience is positioned to respond to the big ideas in the text - e.g. to endorse or challenge socio-historical phenomenon.